Dover, Del. (Mar. 6, 2021) --- Delaware State played spoiler in the MEAC Northern Division race, knocking off Morgan State 82-75 in the Hornets' season finale in Memorial Hall today. The DSU win ended Morgan State's bid to create a three-way tie for first place in the final division standings and a No. 1 seed in the upcoming MEAC Tournament.
The contest also marked the final Delaware State appearance for seniors
Pinky Wiley,
Ameer Bennett and
Myles Carter.
Carter led all players in the game with a career-high 24 points and 11 rebounds, marking his second career double-double.
John Stansbury added 16 points, while
Dominik Fragala came off the bench to chip in 12 and Bennett 10 for the Hornets.
Wiley had eight points and four assists in his final game at DSU.
Sydney Searcy led four double-figure scorers for Morgan State with 21 points. He also had a team-high nine rebounds.
Delaware State's first Division I and MEAC win of the season also snapped a five-game losing streak to the Bears since Mar. 1, 2018.
Morgan State led by as many as nine points in the first half, but the Hornets battled to trim the deficit to four, 36-32, at intermission.
Delaware State trailed 57-50 midway through the second half before making a final comeback. The Hornets outscored the Bears 15-7 over the next five minutes, and pulled ahead 65-64 on a follow-up basket by Bennett at the 6:40 mark of the second half.
Morgan State rebounded with a 7-2 run, and opened up a 71-67 lead on a basket by Lagio Grantsaan with 4:24 left to play.
It was the Hornets' turn to rally again, outscoring the Bears 10-2 during a late three-minute stretch. Carter drilled a three-pointer off a Morgan State turnover to give DSU a 77-73 lead with 38 seconds left to play. He scored eight of DSU's 10 points during the spurt.
DSU made five of six free throws in the final 27 seconds to seal the win.
The Hornets outscored the Bears 50-39 in the second half, shooting 14 of 25 from the field , including six of 10 on three-point shots, in the final 20 minutes.
Delaware State forced MSU into 39.4% shooting (13-for-33) in the second half.
The Hornets also held a 41-30 rebounding advantage in the game.
